No mapping app I've seen in Android Market can rival the functionality of the new TeleNav GPS Navigator ($9.99 per month). (Even Android's own Google Maps falls short, lacking TeleNav's text-to-speech, 3D mapping, and more.) When I tested GPS Navigator version 5.0 almost two years ago, I found that the company had done a stellar job of keeping up with both cell-phone technology and new GPS features like 3D moving maps and live traffic. Version 5.5 for Android, which is now available for the T-Mobile G1 (and other Android phones as they reach the market) follows the same pattern, adding voice entry and weather forecasting to the mix.

What's nice about TeleNav (and the competing VZ Navigator from Verizon) is that it won't eat up your device's onboard memory. The app uses a client/server architecture, so your phone neither stores any of TeleNav's maps or 10 million-plus points of interest (POIs) nor calculates routes; those functions take place on a server that relays information to your phone. Of course, this method requires good cellular coverage for data to ensure reliable navigationsomething you don't have to worry about with a dedicated GPS device, which stores maps and calculates routes locally.

TeleNav also now works on a wide range of phones on all the major networks, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Nextel, and Qwest. (Check out the complete list of supported devices.) The software is customized to fit each handset's platform, so not every version will have functionality identical to the Android one. Version 5.1, for example, which I ran on the BlackBerry Storm, has fewer features than the Android version. (TeleNav has a matrix-style breakdown of its current versions to help you see what features you will get on a particular handset or platform.)

Voice entry is probably what distinguishes TeleNav for Android the most, and it can be used to enter an address or search for a POI by name. The software didn't need to train itself to recognize my voice. After you say either a POI or address, TeleNav announces what it thinks you said and will let you correct it if necessary. When you finish an address, the route is calculated immediately. Your phone will display a map showing the route with any POIs along the way; you tap the screen to call them, start navigation, save them as favorites, or read reviews if any are available.

Voice entry is possible with the Storm and most smartphones on the other platforms, but it isn't supported by the devices themselves. Instead, to enter an address you tap an icon labeled "Call In Address" and your phone calls TeleNav's automated system. The system is a bit cumbersome, and it doesn't support POI searches.

A couple of other goodies are unique to Android. TeleNav gives you the current local weather and a weekly forecast, or you can retrieve weather information for any city, airport, favorite, recent place, or contact. TeleNav for Android also provides commuter alerts, automatic e-mails that notify you of traffic incidents along designated home-to-office and office-to-home routes.

When you launch TeleNav, you're greeted by its Main Menu, from which you can select Drive To, Search, Maps & Traffic, and Tools & More. The display defaults to portrait mode when the phone is closed and switches quickly to landscape when you slide the screen to open the keyboard. Because the Android version does not have a virtual keyboard like the one you'd find on the Storm, you need to switch to landscape mode to enter search terms or a location if you're not using voice entry.

When viewing your route you can opt for 2D or 3D moving maps or turn icons only. In landscape mode, the map view shows your current street at the bottom of the screen and your next street at the top. The distance to your next turn is shown on the left along with a box that toggles between remaining distance and your ETA. As you approach a turn, a green bar across the top of the screen indicates the remaining distance to it. (That bar disappears if you close the keyboard and switch to portrait mode.)

TeleNav 5.0 offered live traffic updates for an additional $3.99 per month, but the updates are included in the monthly $9.99 subscription fee. TeleNav automatically checks your route for traffic as it calculates; if a traffic alert icon appears on your screen, you can tap it to avoid the incident if you haven't already set your route preferences to avoid traffic tie-ups automatically. TeleNav also provides detailed traffic information, including flow speeds where available; in one of my tests, for example, the summary showed that traffic was moving at 18 mph approaching the Lincoln Tunnel heading into Manhattan. Also, as is apropos for a cell-phone navigation app, TeleNav offers a pedestrian mode, which you can select as a preference in the settings menu, or opt for when entering a new destination.

On my test routes, the G1 and BlackBerry Storm both received the same routes from TeleNav's server, which is to be expected, and announced upcoming turns almost simultaneously. The software also quickly recalculated my routes after missed turns. As for text-to-speech prompts, both delivered them at appropriate intervals, and pronunciation was pretty good.

I liked TeleNav when I first reviewed it, and the additional features in the new version for Google Android make it even better. The Android version far surpasses the BlackBerry platform version (5.1) thanks to more complete voice-entry functionality, weather, and special commuter alerts. Unfortunately, neither features lane assist or multisegment routing. But both versions offer a solid navigation experience compared with other Navteq-based GPS devices from Garmin and Magellan, and TeleNav makes it easy for you to test-drive the app with a free, 30-day trial.

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